IPLex ( Indian Intellectual Property Law )

WE TARGET TO ENHANCE CLARITY IN INDIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW/POLICY/INSTITUTIONS. WE ARE ALSO HERE FOR OBJECTIVE AND FAIR ANALYSIS/REPORTING OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY/INNOVATION/DEVELOPMENT POLICY FROM INDIA.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

If we could stop for a minute to solve real
problems facing humanity, instead of imaginary problems mystified with complex
mathematics and vocabulary, we may be convinced to realize that education would
have been one of the most luxurious adventures of mankind. If we don't have
time to read a book in the New Year 2015, at least let us read and inculcate
the thoughts of this message. It may make us think, to think is to expand, to
expand is to gain and the thought process goes on. If we look on the bright
side of things,we shallfind enough to make us cheerful and
happy. The most powerful thing in life... is our thinking, which has ability to
change any situation. We often make two mistakes in our search of inner
peace... focusing on things we cannot change, and ignoring things we can
change.

As we all know that if we give smiles, they
will be returned to us; if we speak pleasant, cheerful words, they will be
spoken to us again. Our own words are the bricks and mortar of the
dreams we want to realize. Our words are the greatest power we have. The words
we choose and their use establish the life we experience. Therefore let us live
our moments for what we are, not for what we may become. Let us always
find time to tell those people we love, that we love them, care for them, or
whatever they mean to us in our life. Life is precious, and we need to be
grateful for each day we are given. We should not have only dreams but set
goals and achieve what we would otherwise dream! Let us smile in trouble that
can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.Time
heals all wounds, but only wisdom keeps them from reopening.

Making hundreds of friends is not
a miracle. The miracle is to make a single friend like you who will stand by
our side even when thousands are against us. The limitations of us are our own
creation, designed to provide cover for our unwillingness to try. We should never
be afraid to change our vision, set new goals, and challenge ourselves. Life is
best experienced without boundaries; so let us live each day ceremoniously. In fact we
are not bound to succeed, but we are bound to live by the light that we have.
Let us stand with those whose stands are right, and remain with them while they
are right. Let us seize the present opportunity; work with dedication
and sincerity and enjoy it; this is the best reward that we can give to
ourselves.
As we all came here, into this
life, with our own music to play; each of us our own set of notes. Let's all
play together nicely so that the world becomes a sweet music along the
manuscript of life.

With these few words i wish you, your
family and friends a very happy and successful year ahead.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

In 2011,
British wildlife photographer David Slater was traveling through the jungle in
Indonesian when a crested black macaque grabbed his camera and started snapping
selfies. Somebody posted the images in Wikipedia Commons, meaning anybody could
use them for free. A legal battle ensued, with Slater claiming the images
belong to him, and Wikipedia countering that the images belong to the public
since they weren't created by a human. Wikimedia, the organisation behind
Wikipedia, has refused a photographer’s repeated requests to remove one of his
images which is used online without his permission, claiming that because a
monkey pressed the shutter button it owns the copyright. The Wikimedia Commons
is a collection of 22,302,592 images and videos that are free to use by anyone
online, and editors have included Mr Slater’s image among its database. Slater, from Coleford, Gloucestershire, was on a
trip to a small national park north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi when
he met the incredibly friendly bunch.

The crested black
macaque is extremely rare and critically endangered. These were part of
a study group near a science base in the region, home to researchers from
Holland.Slater
teamed up with a local guide because I knew about the apes and wanted to
photograph them.Slater now faces £10,000 in legal costs
to recover his rights. And he’s got a good argument: Mr Slater said that the
photography trip was extremely expensive and that he has not made much money
from the image despite its enormous popularity. That trip cost me about £2,000
for that monkey shot. Not to mention the £5,000 of equipment I carried, the
insurance, the computer stuff I used to process the images. Photography is an
expensive profession that’s being encroached upon. They’re taking our
livelihoods away. For every 100000 images I take, one makes money that keeps me
going. And that was one of those images. It was like a year of work, really.

To capture the
perfect wildlife image, you usually have to be in exactly the right place at
precisely the right time.But in this instance, David Slater wasn’t there at
all and he still got a result.Visiting a national park in North Sulawesi,
Indonesia, award-winning photographer Mr Slater left his camera unattended for
a while.It
soon attracted the attention of an inquisitive female from a local group of
crested black macaque monkeys, known for their intelligence and dexterity.Fascinated by her
reflection in the lens, she then somehow managed to start the camera. The
upshot: A splendid self-portrait. The U.S.
Copyright Office addresses the dispute in the latest draft of its “Compendium
Of U.S. Copyright Office Practices”, which was published on 19th August,
2014. The previous compendium stated clearly that “Materials produced solely by
nature, by plants, or by animals are not copyrightable.

First there was a
lot of grimacing with their teeth showing because it was probably the first
time they had ever seen a reflection.' They were quite mischievous jumping all
over my equipment, and it looked like they were already posing for the camera
when one hit the button.'The sound got his attention and he kept pressing
it'At first it
scared the rest of them away but they soon came back - it was amazing to watch.'He must have
taken hundreds of pictures by the time I got my camera back, but not very many
were in focus. He obviously hadn't worked that out yet.'I wish I could
have stayed longer as he probably would have taken a full family album.

A musical
work created by solely by an animal would not be registrable, such as a bird
song or whale song. Likewise, music generated entirely by a mechanical or an
automated process is not copyrightable. For example, the automated
transposition of a musical work from one key to another is not registrable. Nor
could a musical composition created solely by a computer algorithm be
registered. Dances performed or intended to be performed by animals, machines,
or other animate or inanimate objects are not copyrightable and cannot be
registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

It can be
argued that if the photographer had set up the camera, framed the shot, and
simply let the monkey click the shutter, perhaps there is some copyright there
(though, even then it would likely be limited to some of the framing, and not
much else). But David Slater has already admitted that the monkeys found a
camera he had left out by accident and that he did not have anything to do with
setting up the shot. He's stated that the monkeys were playing with the shiny
objects and when one pushed the shutter, the noise interested them and they kept
it up. It would be difficult to argue he made any sort of creative contribution
here to warrant copyright. Can the monkeys get the copyright But since Slater
is a British citizen and there are no international copyright laws, it's not
clear how the case will pan out or whether Slater will continue to press the
matter.

In the U.K.,
under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, a photographer can claim
rights over an image even if he or she did not press the shutter button if the
results are their “intellectual creation. However, such a case has never been
tried in court and the outcome would be uncertain.

Monday, July 14, 2014

The Act will come into force between October 2014 and the end of 2015. It specially deals with product design, 3D Printing,
fashion design, furniture or jewelry design. The Design Right protects the
internal or external shape: two-dimensional designs or surface patterns; or
configuration of an original design. This right will give protection for a
period equal to the earlier of: 10 years from the first marketing of articles
produced from the design; or 15 years from the date of creation of the design.
It should be noted however, that during the last 5 years of this protection
period the design is subject to a license of right entitling a third party to
be granted a license to make and sell products copying the design. Typically
design right protects commercially produced designs and not 'artistic' designs
which will generally attract copyright protection.

The Act
helps to speed the granting of patents by allowing the UK Intellectual Property
to send patent information to other global offices. The goal is to reduce
paperwork and to speed up the process for which patents are granted. This is a
major help to business’s hoping for quick turnarounds on their patents.The law contains multiple provisions on how
to solve patent design disputes.

The law
synchronizes UK law with that of EU law in regards to IP law. This will provide
consistency that will aid all businesses that do business in the EU. The laws
regarding unregistered design right have been greatly simplified so as to
clarify which aspects of the design are covered. These measures will also help
bring a timely resolution to conflicts as to avoid long drawn out litigation.Although it will take a couple of years to
see what impact these changes have, it is still promising that the UK was able
to pass this law and hopefully it serves as a building block to provide further
protection for companies. This comes at a time when the United States Congress
could not come to an agreement for a new IP Bill. Hopefully, seeing a major
world leader pass significant IP legislation will inspire Congress to also pass
new IP legislation.The purpose of the new design law are
to; simplify design law and allow the intellectual property framework to better
support innovation; improve the enforcement of designs and understanding the
design rights of others, and improve the processes associated with the design
framework.

The law provide
various changes like the initial ownership position in respect of registered
designs is also changed, as for unregistered designs i.e. the designer will be
the initial owner unless otherwise agreed, rather than the commissioner. The Act
expands the exception from copyright infringement already available to
registered UK designs to registered community designs, i.e. so that an
authorised user of a UK or registered community design cannot be sued for
infringement of associated copyright. Applicant does not need to be the owner
of the design: The Act removes the requirement for the applicant of a
registered design application to be the proprietor of the design. The Act makes
intentional copying of a registered design a criminal offence. This applies to
acts which take place in the course of business and the penalties for such an
offence are now a fine or prison sentence. Again, this brings the penalties
into line with sanctions for trademarks and copyright infringement. The Act
gives Trading Standards officers similar powers of enforcement for design offences
as those already available to them in respect of copyright and trademarks.

The Act grants
power for the Secretary of State to implement the Geneva Act of the Hague
Agreement in the UK, this means that international registration procedures will
be available for UK registered designs. At present UK designers can only access
the Hague registration process via the EU community design registration. New
good faith exception to infringement: The Act introduces a right of prior use,
allowing a third party who has acted in good faith to continue to use a
registered design which is subsequently registered by another. The aim of this
amendment is to provide an entitlement to limited exploitation in respect of
uses already made.

One fundamental
change to existing law is that the Act changes the deemed first owner of
unregistered designs so that unless otherwise agreed, the designer will be the
owner of the designs and not the person who commissioned the designs.
Historically the first owner has been the commissioner. This amendment will
bring design law into line with UK copyright law. The Act clarifies the
definition of design so that to be original a design must not be commonplace in
a 'qualifying country' rather than in the 'relevant design field', which caused
confusion as to its geographical coverage. The definition of Unregistered
Design Right has been amended to limit the protection for trivial features of a
design. The Act has amended the provisions related to qualifying persons who
can claim unregistered design right so that those who are economically active
in the EU and other Qualifying Countries (as set out in the CDPA) have
protection.

The Act extends the exceptions for infringing
unregistered designs, so that acts done privately for no commercial purpose or
for teaching will not infringe unregistered design rights. A similar exception
applies for acts done for experimental purposes, this is to encourage
innovation. The Act aligns the financial liability provisions for innocent
infringement with those provisions under the Community Design Rights
legislation. The Act allows a new route of appeal against Intellectual Property
Office (IPO) decisions via an Appointed Person instead of appealing via the
courts, such root already exist for trade mark appeals. This amendment is
intended to allow appeals be cheaper and less time consuming. The Act clarifies
that proceedings for an offence committed against a partnership must be brought
against the partnership. The Act has added a new exemption to the Freedom of
Information Act for information obtained in the course of or derived from a
continuing programme of research, a report of which is intended for future
publication, where disclosure would prejudice the report.

The Act provides for a voluntary non-binding
opinion service to be introduced by the IPO which is similar to the opinions
service which currently exists in respect of patents. There is an obligation on
the secretary of state to report on the IPO's activities each year to show how
innovation and growth have been supported in the UK. The Act provides for
automatic extension of certain copyright provisions of the CDPA to materials
of, and works first published in other countries i.e. it recognizes certain
foreign works.

It is
expected that the Act will benefit many UK businesses and design professionals
and make obtaining international registrations easier. If you are a designer or
design company you should be aware of the implications of the new Act to your
business. If you are commissioning a design, it is important to ensure that you
have an appropriate agreement in place with the designer to ensure that the design
rights are owned by you. It is advised that the right holders should review
their standard terms and conditions and, where necessary, amend them to ensure
that appropriate provisions are included. With £16
billion being contributed to the UK economy by intellectual property investment
each year, you can see why modernising UK intellectual property law for the
digital age is an important object of the UK Government. Whether the new Act
achieves its objectives only time will tell us.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Intellectual
property (IP) simply refers to any creation that can be leveraged for its
innovation, ingenuity and monetary value. It typically includes patents,
trademarks, copyright, which are the more commonly understood terms. Patents
are the staple of the competitive advantage of businesses. If you look at your
everyday use gadgets, the cellphone for instance, each one of them out there is
protected by at least 400-800 patents. IP has been a ‘protection’ tool for
companies for many years. However, the focus has now shifted from simply
‘protecting’ your IP assets to monetising these assets by licencing IP rights
to third parties or by selling assets that are no longer core to the business.
As per the current Merger & Amalgamation trends and the intense patent
litigation between the biggest players in the smartphone field, it is evident
that IP assets are at the core of both. The effective commercialization of
inventions, creative ideas and innovations is going to lead economies of the
world in coming future.

As per US commerce Dept. IP-intensive industries support at least 40
million jobs in the country and contribute more than $5 trillion (34.8%) to US
gross domestic product (GDP). European nations aren’t far behind. Asia Pacific
too is forging ahead with Korea, Taiwan and China paving the way.
Intellectual-property based sectors in both developed and developing countries
are substantial drivers of GDP and employment
growth. The effective management of IP assets requires not to just managing
the business but also more importantly to expand the business. To realise the
commercial value of assets is the essence of the IP business today. That’s why
you see that the world’s biggest and most successful businesses have one thing
in common—their IP strategy has become integral part to their business
development plans.

A
typical IP strategy has three key steps like getting IP protection, managing IP
and then maintaining IP. It looks like as three simple steps, but in-fact a way
more complex business than that does an innovation need to be patented. The challenging economic climate of recent years has
brought with it a sharper need for innovation in order for businesses to be
able to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Investment in IP will
undoubtedly bring with it new technologies, that will eventually lead to fast
economic growth.

In 2012,
China received a total of 652,777 patent applications, the highest ever
received by any single IP office. Among the top 10 IP offices, China’s IP
office saw the fastest annual growth in filings received [+24%]. China topped
the ranking for both the source (filings by China) and the destination (filed
in China) for patents, utility models, trademarks and industrial designs. It
recorded a double digit growth of 24%, making its share in the mentioned IPs
the largest worldwide. This offers a glimpse into the IP supporting strategy
that China has developed viz. a less restrictive R&D tax regime, reduced
corporate income
tax rate, big deductions for R&D costs, duty exemptions for R&D
equipment and concessions for technology transfers. Recognising how critical IP
is to economic growth, the Chinese government has incorporated IP into their
national policies involving R&D and innovation. As a result, Chinese
business investment in R&D remains strong with expenditure in 2012 exceeding
$160 billion together with double-digit annual increases in R&D spend.

Apparently,
in 2011-2012, intellectual property was responsible for driving close to $25
billion worth of M&A activities globally. In the US alone, 10 million jobs
have been created with a need for three million more IP skilled graduates.
India too is trying to develop and progress in the area of IP. To quote a few statistics, in 2012-13, 43,955
patent applications were filed in India—a rise from 8954 in 2008. Out of this,
the number of applications filed by Indian applicants in 2011 and 2012 were
8841 and 9553 respectively, an 8% increase from the previous year.

Indian government and
Indian MNCs should realize the monetary importance of IP and take lessons from
Japan, USA and China to upgrade and reformulate its strategy accordingly. The
following steps are sine-qua-non like to upgrade the existing system for online
filing of applications and update all IP records to benefit the IP stakeholders
and to facilitate the retrieval of data from IP offices. Revision and enactment
of IP laws to create a research culture to turn India into an innovation
conglomerate. This will help India to get an edge and extract the real benefit
of IP-Commercialization, monetization and maintain its claim of future economic
power.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Wish you all the Intellectuals a
great World Intellectual Property Day - April 26, 2014.

In 2000, WIPO's member states
designated April 26 – the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in
1970 – as World IP Day with the aim of increasing general understanding of
IP. Since then, World IP Day has offered
a unique opportunity each year to join with others around the globe to consider
how IP contributes to the flourishing of music and the arts and to driving the
technological innovation that helps shape our world.

Now there is a great need to dwell
and realise the complex emerging issues of IP Law. As what used to be science
fiction is now fact. But what’s next? What is the future beyond the future?
What disruptive technology is now just an idea bouncing around a young
engineer’s mind? Who will create the next online sensation that again changes
how we talk to each other? What new music will emerge from a garage somewhere
to rock the world’s dance floors or unnerve the academy? Who are tomorrow’s
great artists and innovators? How are they working; how do they create? And how
will they get their creations to market in a world where the game changes,
almost daily? The future? Ask the next
generation.

Friday, April 25, 2014

The World IPR Day celebration, 2014 will be organized by the IPR Cell of College of Legal Studies, UPES in association with UCOST (Uttrakhand State Council for Science & Technology) R & D (UPES) and Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) on 28th April. The celebrations will include IPR awareness, a brief video on intellectual property, Debate and Essay writing competition where any undergraduate and post graduate student is welcome to participate irrespective of the discipline. There will also be release of the draft UPES IPR policy, a poster presentation and exhibition highlighting creativity and innovation of the students.

In 2000, WIPO's member states designated April 26 – the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in 1970 – as World IP Day with the aim of increasing general understanding of IP. Since then, World IP Day has offered a unique opportunity each year to join with others around the globe to consider how IP contributes to the flourishing of music and the arts and to driving the technological innovation that helps shape our world.

The UPES has emerged as a premier institution and the first Indian Energy University, working towards building the nation by creating skilled professionals to drive the economy. Its College of Legal Studies (CoLS) is a unique domain-specific college with specialization in courses such as Energy Law, Corporate Law, Cyber Law and IPR. In furtherance to our objective of becoming a distinctive and successful institution in the domain specific sector, the College organized various events regularly. This World IP Day celebration aims to keep alive the importance of IP in the business world.